Paper Elephant
by ap-q-n
Summary: She turns on her monitor, and that's when she notices it. It's very well hidden, and it's an elephant, hiding between her other elephants. It's from Castle. Caskett. One-shot.


_**Author's Note: **Hey there. This story is short, and has absolutely nothing to do with secrets and all that angst of the moment. This is also my first fan fiction I've uploaded, and it would be great if you would take your time to write a review. One-shot._

**Summary: **She turns on her monitor, and that's when she notices it. It's very well hidden, and it's an elephant, hiding between her other elephants. It's from Castle.

* * *

_Thump._

_Thump._

_Thump._

Beckett squeezes her eyes shut and pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers. The sound is — excessively irritating. And really not helping her mood right now.

_Thump._

"Ryan!"

Ryan jumps at the sudden outburst. His eyes go wide; a hint of fear lingering somewhere in the back. He looks down to his hands, holding the rainbow-swirled rubber ball, and looks back up to the fuming detective.

"Beckett. Yeah. Sorry."

She gives him one of her "looks," and resumes her paperwork.

"Bro, don't push it. She's in a bad mood 'cause Castle is at California for the week," Esposito mutters, glaring at his partner.

Ryan sighs, and hunches back over his desk.

-xxx-

Beckett isn't feeling too good at the moment. She has a headache, there's too much paperwork and no case, Castle is visiting Stanford with Alexis, and —

There goes Ryan. Again.

She watches him, annoyed, as he noisily drums his fingers against the worn, wooden desk of the precinct. He makes several different face expressions, watching himself in the reflection of the computer screen. Then, after a short pause, the bored detective leans to the side, opens up one of his drawers, and pulls out several bright-colored sheets of origami paper.

As he sloppily folds his squares into smaller squares and then unaligned triangles, Beckett rises from her seat and makes her way towards Ryan.

"Ryan," she starts, not as aggressively as last time.

He jerks his head up and looks at her with innocent eyes. "Yeah, Beckett?"

"Don't you have any paperwork to do? And by that, I mean real, actual, police paperwork?"

"Nope," he replies easily, and goes back to his messy handiwork.

Beckett rolls her eyes and returns to her desk.

-xxx-

She tries, she really tries.

Letting out a loud sigh, Beckett drops her head into her hands. But, temptation approaches. She separates her pinky and ring finger of her left hand and peeks out through the slit, and gazes at _the chair_.

Quickly regretting her decision, she shuts her eyes for a moment. She gathers herself up again, back to the stoic detective, and turns on the monitor of her computer.

That's when she notices it.

It's very well-hidden; not noticeable if you weren't directly looking at it. It's a jumble of paper, stuck between her glass elephants, the color also helping with the camouflage. Beckett eyes it for a moment, and curiosity gets the best of her. She reaches over to grab it, but has some trouble prying it away from the elephants because it's tucked in in many places. When she finally removes the paper from the grasps of the inanimate sculptures, she realizes it's not just any old jumble of paper.

It's an elephant. A green one, too, so it hides well between the rest of her green elephants. The paper is thin, olive green in most places and a pastel yellow in the ears and some parts of the trunk and feet. But the thing is – it's not sloppy. The elephant is very neatly folded, lines precise, like the maker was spending lots of time going slowly and steadily.

It's from Castle.

He's the only one. It can't be from Ryan, he is quite horrible at origami. And, well, Esposito wouldn't do such a thing. Beckett tries to hide back a smile, and bites her bottom lip. He's just so sweet.

She brushes her thumb over the elephant's ear, looking at every single little detail of the animal. When she flips it over, she sees it.

A little white slip of paper tucked under the ear of the other side. She slowly grabs for it, trying to be careful not to rip the origami or the note. The handwriting is small, and is sprawled in his blocky letters.

_Missing me yet, Detective? Since you're reading this, it probably means you were really bored and had nothing to do and no one to entertain you. Text me right now that you got the note, and we'll have a nice conversation about my problems and your problems regarding where we are. If you still miss me and want to hear my wonderful voice – and no, it will not boost my ego, thank you very much – call me tonight. At exactly 7:00pm in your time. What's better than to go to sleep after a little chat with my favorite detective? :-)_

She can't help it. The grin takes over, and she fails miserably to stop it. Ducking her head so her hair blocks most of her face, Beckett rereads the note numerous times, lingering at the little smiley face at the end.

She decides – she's going to do it. Both of them.

_I got your note._

_-xxx-_

Kate laughs, loud and free, at the actual-funny-this-time joke Castle recited. He laughs along with her, both of them so carefree and happy.

"Good one, Castle."

"Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm."

"So, what are you up to this fine evening, Detective?"

"Not much, just finished up eating dinner. I'm putting away the dishes."

"I see. So. You just couldn't stop yourself, could you? Had to call me to listen to me luxurious voice – "

"In your dreams."

"Actually, in my dreams, you – "

"Castle. Shut it," she says, trying to sound annoyed, but she knows that he knows that she's smiling.

After finishing with the dishes, she retreats to her bedroom, talking with Castle the whole time.

Twenty minutes into the call, Kate's mood has lifted tremendously at the regular banter between them, when suddenly a knock resounds through her apartment.

"Hold on a sec, Castle."

"Yeah."

Beckett walks over to her door, and swings it open.

"Hey there."

Her eyes widen, because, there he is. Castle, standing at her door, when he is supposed to be at California for another three days. And again, she can't help it. A grin breaks free and she steps forward and wraps her arms around him, bringing him into a warm hug. The writer chuckles at her actions, as it is something she wouldn't normally do.

"Missed me that much, Kate?"

Her heart warms at the use of her first name. And, she does something she really shouldn't have done. She nods.

Kate can tell he's grinning into her hair, and smiles right along with him, whispering into his ear.

"Yeah. I missed you. A lot. I suggest you don't leave on long trips anymore."

Castle's jaw drops.

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_Drop a review, and I'll give you a virtual paper elephant. And maybe even a strawberry milkshake. :D_


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